0

Editor’s Note:Semil Shah is a contributor to TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter at @semil.

“In the Studio” opens up Q2 of 2013 by hosting a three-time founder who, after stints in engineering and the biomedical industry in India, happened to team up with a young leader in the art world to create one of the art world’s most fascinating online auction houses.

Aditya Julka, a co-founder of online art and collectible marketplace Paddle8, has carved an unusual path of entrepreneurship. After growing up and studying in India, Julka began his career as a healthcare entrepreneur, founding two companies before he came stateside to pursue his MBA. After graduation, he moved to NYC and started what would become Paddle8, though the business initial began as a lead-gen engine for collectors, but Julka and his team quickly identified that, given the intricacies of the art world, the web could enable an interesting marketplace so long as they were able to secure the right art “supply.”

In this video, Julka and I discuss how Paddle8 was formed, how it transitioned from lead-gen to an auction format, lessons he’s gleaned from trying to build an online marketplace in a very complex, opaque industry, and how art moves from the artist to gallery to collector, and the potential re-sale options collector’s have. In these cases, art holders may have to sell art back to the gallery and get a haircut in return, or for works under $100,000, aren’t suitable for the big offline auction houses. This video would be valuable to anyone building an online marketplace, and Julka poses hard questions for these entrepreneurs — namely, to investigate any marketplace idea by asking “Why haven’t Amazon or eBay tried to go after this market?” The answer to that question, Julka believes, will help guide a startup to focus on being truly unique.

0

CrunchBase

BioAditya Julka is the co-founder of Paddle8, an online marketplace for fine art. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Julka earned the title of a serial entrepreneur by founding InBioPro (based in Bangalore, India) and BioAtlantis (based in Ireland) in addition to Paddle8
He previously worked at McKinsey & Co. in Asia and received his graduate and undergraduate degrees in Biochemical Engineering …

OverviewPaddle8 is a virtual auction house, backed by the owners of a major luxury brand and technology investors behind Uber, Pinterest and Vimeo. The platform is focused on fine art, with two types of auction platforms: benefit auctions in collaboration with non-profits and leading museums, and Paddle8's own biweekly themed auctions. Paddle8 has worked with major artists, curators and publications, including …